Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Singapore's attitude towards what people think of it is puzzling. It appears as if it couldn't care less what anybody thought. And surely if it is perceived badly surely everything else suffers.

1. It is an island of only 5 million in total, of which nearly a half is made up of foreigners. With a size as small as that one would have thought it would have carefully guarded it's reputation because any further loss of it's local population which it relies upon as an English speaking business center would mean utter ruin. But for some reason or other it simply does not care.

2. Over decades now the law has been openly manipulated as a tool to silence critics. This fact is now well known both locally and abroad, with it's legal system thoroughly disgrace. Today, Alan Shadrake the English author will be going to jail for 5 weeks for writing a book critical about Singapore's death penalty laws. The knowledge that Singapore has no rule of law and uses it to stifle dissent is known throughout the world and it harms Singapore in every way you can imagine. But they don't seem to care.

3. This repeated abuse of the laws and a totally arbitrary system of government, chases the capable from leaving Singapore for settlement abroad. It has been reported that no less than 1,000 highly qualified citizens leave the island permanently every year principally occasioned by the very bad reputation and insecurity in the island. Very soon there won't be anymore skilled or capable Singaporeans. The children of every single judge, civil servant and even Ministers have not only been educated abroad, they also live in those countries. In the past the government had tried various means to coax locals to remain and to entice Singaporeans overseas to return. No one wanted to stay or return and the exercise was a total failure. Today they have given up even trying and appear resigned to Singapore losing their best.

4. This insecurity in the island occasioned by it's lack of the rule of law and the lack of democratic rights also results in people not having any children. The birth rate is one of the lowest in the world. Similarly there were numerous efforts by the government to encourage higher childbirth to no avail. It appears in this case too the government has given up trying and is resigned to a unstoppable decline of it's local population.

5. Locals are not marrying in large enough numbers. As for the Chinese in lower income groups, they cannot find a partner in the island and are forced to get a mail order bride from neighbouring countries such as Vietnam. This further reduces the quality of its citizenry, with a large section of population without any knowledge of English or the character, culture and history of Singapore.

6. Walking the streets of Singapore today, you hear a cacophony of foreign tongues all jabbering away in foreign languages which no single group of Singaporeans can understand. You hear Burmese, the ubiquitous Mandarin Chinese with a mainland accent, some Thai, some Vietnamese and God knows what else. You hear many languages in London too, but at least England or America are countries large enough to withstand sufficient number of immigrants. With only 5 million people of which half are already from somewhere else, with the local population continuing to decline without let up, with even more foreigners coming in to take their places, I would say, Singapore in a couple of years would no longer be Singapore. But as I said, the government does not appear to care.

Of course if you had a free and independent press, these issues which are vital to the very survival of Singapore would be reported and discussed, but whith the media and the press entirely controlled by the government (no different from the Soviet Union or North Korea) nothing except good news gets reported, and these problems never see the light of day.

It seems to me that the Lee Kuan Yew government has run out of ideas and simply given up. And if anyone would dare to criticize them on their policies, they will sue you without fail, which means a population today which is totally silenced.

And this scenario should be worrying to anyone. But in Lee Kuan Yew's case, he doesn't seem to care.

I guess the reasoning is that if the Titanic is sinking anyway, what is the point of making a fuss about it. Just sit back and enjoy the little time left.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Monday, May 30, 2011

No, it was not a rare sighting of the 5 headed Malayan brown bear, long thought extinct, found blissfully walking along Avenue 7 by a resident in Woodlands, in the northern part of Singapore yesterday.

It was in fact a sighting, even more rare, in the Singaporean sense, of a Minister Politician with Lee Kuan Yew's ruling party, seen on the subway in the island, as it's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times of May 30, 2011 reports in the story "Lui Tuck Yew seen riding public transport again".

In any other country this would not have been news at all, but it would have been if PAP Minister Lui had molested 5 under aged girls in broad daylight along Avenue 7 at Woodlands Singapore. Simply riding a street car like other Singaporeans is simply not news, whether it was Mr. Lui or his father Lui Meng Meng (I am guessing the name).

This Singapore story seen fit to be printed in bold and splashed across the state controlled major newspaper only underpins yet again what everybody can see for themselves, it is one Singapore for the elites and members of Lee Kuan Yew's ruling party, and quite another for the ordinary Joe Blokes eking out a living in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.

Lui Tuck Yew, in the Singaporean sense was not expected to ride the train like any other ordinary mortal, because in the Singapore of today, he is simply not any other ordinary mortal.

He was supposed to ride in one of his several chauffeur driven Rolls Royce's as befitting what he is paid, in fact nothing less that $4 million dollars a year and triple that amount in hidden bonuses and perks, just as every other government leader in tiny Singapore is paid, the highest recorded salaries in the world.

Lui's riding the train only proves one thing, he is not only a thief by paying himself tax papers money in the millions, he is also a miser because he wants to save even that little money, relatively speaking, of gasoline money to travel in one of his several Rolls Royces. I suppose he only uses it periodically for travel to the Singapore branch of his Swiss bank to check whether all the deposits have been correctly posted.

I am attaching below the Straits Times report:

NEW Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew was once again spotted taking the public transportation. This time, he was seen riding a MRT train during morning rush hour on Monday.

A commuter identified only as Nat snapped photos of the minister after seeing him in the crowded train, and posted them on citizen journalism website STOMP.

Nat said: 'I snapped pictures of him on the train this morning at 7.45am, on the North South line heading towards Jurong East at Bukit Gombak. Welcome to the crowd!'

Mr Lui was last week seen riding a public bus last Tuesday, and photos of the sighting were also posted on STOMP.

The story on STOMP on Monday drew a mixed reaction, however, with 35 per cent of feedback expressing scepticism as of 11.20am.

However, the general sentiment in the comments section seemed largely positive. Said STOMPer thnufilo: 'Hurray, Mr Lui Tuck Yew is so down to earth. At least he did both bus and mrt. He's one of us!'

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Singapore's state controlled newspaper of May 27, 2011 carried the story "British author loses appeal". In 2010, in an internationally widely condemned action, the Lee Kuan Yew government of Singapore arrested and charged well known British author Alan Shadrake for writing a book, Once a Jolly Hangman, which had passages not entirely flattering of the Singapore judicial system.

A well researched book, it gives details of several cases where well connected personages, who were of either economic or political advantage to the Singapore government were either let off Scot free or treated leniently even though guilty of serious crimes while other common Singaporeans were routinely executed.

Any Singaporean living in Singapore already knows this as Singapore deliberately makes their actions in abusing the law especially to punish political dissidents very clear. For example, JB Jeyaretnam, the well known political opponent of the Lee Kuan Yew administration, in well publicised news reports in the state controlled press, was repeatedly sued for defamation of character, jailed and bankrupted in circumstances where it was obvious he did nothing wrong. His only fault was in being a serious political threat to Lee.

The other prominent victim of Lee Kuan Yew's legal abuse was and is Chee Soon Juan, the leader of his Singapore Democratic Party. He has been repeatedly jailed, sued and bankrupted for his political challenge. He is not allowed to contest elections due to his bankruptcy.

A few weeks ago Lee Kuan Yew's PAP had suffered their greatest loss in voter support since decades. Even though they won, they only managed to secure 60% of the votes, the lowest percentage ever, and lost a GRC (5 seats) and another single seat to the opposition.

One would have thought that these numbers would have rung alarm bells in the PAP heads, and they would realise that they are showing their dissatisfaction to the Lee Kuan Yew style, dictatorial form of government. Apparently this is not the case as the dismissal of the appeal of the British author and sending him to jail shows us.

Please remember the facts here. Shadrake wrote a book in 2010, almost exactly a year ago when he said that the Singapore courts were misusing their authority to please their political masters. Once Shadrake was arrested, the sales of his book shot through the ceiling, both in Singapore, Malaysia and around the world. Yesterday, after the news of jailing was confirmed, the sales of his book has shot up even further and turned into a bestseller. And now, almost exactly after a year from the books first publication, and after thousands upon thousands having read it, they send him to jail.

I am sorry but I am unable to understand the reasoning of Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore government in doing this. If the purpose was to punish Shadrake, it is surely not going to bother him after he leaves Lee Kuan Yew's jail. If it is to frighten every other Singaporean not to ever criticize Lee Kuan Yew or his government, I think the point has been made long ago; but I am not sure how effective such a government is going to be that relies on fear to rule. If it is to prove that Singapore's judicial system is fair, this objective has failed miserably as the jailing only confirms what Shadrake has written, precisely that their judicial system is in fact thoroughly corrupt.

Singapore's major problems today are mounting emigration of it's citizens to Western countries due to the lack of freedom and democracy. Second, the birth rate is so low that Singaporeans are almost dying off and unless foreigners are brought in large numbers as replacement, which itself poses great problems on it's own. Again the reason is Lee's authoritarian government. This massive brain drain and a declining population are problems which unless rectified, will destroy Singapore itself.

I have no doubt that Shadrake's jailing has added to these problems multi fold. The educated and skilled Singaporeans who are already leaving the country in droves will only do so sooner and in larger numbers. The fast declining population will decline even faster while the free world has been given yet another example of Singapore's intolerance of dissent and proven as a place where no self respecting human being should want to live.

With the jailing of Shadrake, Lee Kuan Yew's grip over it's people has tightened even further.

So my call to Singapore's educated, skilled and thinking citizens is this. You don't want to hang around in an island which is run as if it is Lee's personal possession, where you are permitted to stay only if you don't criticize and if you do, he sends you to jail. If you have a chance, get out and take your family, your money and your possessions with you.

And when you do, keep giving a piece of your mind to these bullies. Lee Kuan Yew and his family can do nothing in an island such as that without good people to manage it.

Better still, stay and fight them. They may send you to jail, sue you and bankrupt you and that is unfortunately the price to pay. If you can withstand that, I am sure the Lee family will have something to really worry about.

One thing I am sure is this. Very soon there are going to be protests in the island. It may be this week or the next but I am sure it is going to happen. There simply cannot be a country such as this with as many as 5 million people who are all prepared to live as slaves. So when that happens, we will no doubt see change. I am waiting for that day.

In the meantime, my call to Lee Kuan Yew and his judges is this, keep sending political opponents and your critics to jail. You are only shooting yourself in the foot.

I will shortly be disbarred from practicing law in Singapore because I had criticized Lee's judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean in this blog. But that is not going to stop me from continuing the criticism.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Today's greatest leveller between the powerful and the weak, the oppressed and the oppressors is just one thing, modern mass communication and the Internet.

Sun Tzu, the Chinese military strategist, although he wrote about actual warfare, his wisdom is equally true in politics. His belief was the need to weaken the enemy, before the battle, in this case Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP, by dissatisfaction and disaffection as the foundation upon which you build towards battle.

When the people are unhappy, they will obviously be more willing to resist and through resistance, our forces, the opposition would overrun them easily.

And that is exactly what this blog Singapore Dissident and the other blogs as well as democracy activists and everyone else are doing. We are pointing out the evils of Lees' despotic regime. When the people are made to realize the injustices being meted to them, they begin to feel unhappiness.

With unhappiness, they refuse to vote for the PAP at elections, emigrate to other western countries, refuse to have children; all insurmountable problems that Lee Kuan Yew faces today.

As the truth about Singapore is spread around the world, western investors refuse to invest there, they pull out their investments and international banks relocate to other Asian countries from Singapore.

Given the lack of the rule of law and the realization that Singaporean judges are mere servants of the government and distort to law to punish political detractors and favor the ruling party, they lose arbitration business and more and more lawyers lose income and thrown out of work. Today, Singapore has no more than 3000 lawyers for a city of 5 million!

So one thing is certain. Today you simply cannot run roughshod over the people. Even if the Internet alone cannot overthrow governments today, they can definitely cause the people to hate them and this hate and dissatisfaction will eventually with time overcome the state.

No matter which way you look at it, states can only function with the support and respect of their people. Without it they cannot except of course for closed societies like North Korea which Singapore is not, and cannot be.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Today we read in Singapore's state controlled press that Lee Kuan Yew's son's ruling party in government, the PAP, has for the first time formed a special committee to look into ministerial salaries.

Singapore's ministers are the highest paid government leaders in the world, even though they are one of the tiniest of countries, a very small island with 5 million people. Yet, their ministers are each paid about 5 times what the President of United States or the combined annual incomes of all the European leaders.

Since Singapore is in effect a dictatorship and completely under the grip of Lee Kuan Yew or his son whom he appointed Prime Minister, up till recently, they have managed to ignore the cries of indignation of it's people over this and other brazen injustices.

After all the Lee family controls everything, the media, the police, the judges, the courts, the newspapers, the unions and the list goes on. In fact simply, everything.

If a government can control everything in the island, what need do they have to listen to it's people. After all if you complain too much, you can be arrested and jailed or bankrupted as the situation dictates.

But we see now that finally, the government is loosening it's grip and has finally agreed to look into Ministerial income, not because Lee Kuan Yew and Sons have finally embraced democracy but because the resistance from the people for accountability has been steadily mounting that they find it impossible to ignore any longer.

It is people power that has finally forced Lee ans Sons to face reality at least for once. Every single opposition political party and across the Internet, people have been crying foul on ministerial salaries. One web site, Melanie Hewitt, that has been particularly loud on this issue comes to mind. They have been writing non stop on this disgraceful theft of Singapore's wealth or simply corruption by it's ministers.

This blog Singapore Dissident too have been repeatedly writing about the outrage over this daylight robbery of millions of dollars being siphoned off by the Lee family and their friends at the top, merely by the expedient of calling it a salary.

What has finally made the Lee Kuan Yew government's willingness to reconsider this theft of public money is the Internet today. People all over Singapore and throughout the world have been reading this theft and corruption, which I am sure was why their vote share in the recent elections dropped to the lowest in Singapore's history, a mere 60%, with the unprecedented loss of one GRC of 5 seats in Parliament and another Single Member constituency, 1 seat, making a loss of 6 seats in all.

I reckon they realise their name is now so badly tainted, both locally and internationally that unless they did something they are going to lose everything.

Singapore Dissident is gratified and takes credit for Singapore's decision to reconsider ministerial salaries. Lee and Son's decision to listen to their people for the first time is caused in no small measure by the writings in this blog which is widely read in Singapore and across the world.

I would ask not only that ministers salaries be cut to an mount commensurate to the size and population of Singapore; but also that the the ministers be made to account for these unconscionable salaries and be compelled to return the amounts taken; and that they be charged for corruption and criminal breach of trust, tried and be sent to jail. And as for Lee Kuan Yew being 88, I urge you to move fast so that he is not allowed to do a Pinochet( the Chilean) on us, by dying before his case comes to trial.

Another example of Lee Kuan Yew being forced to loosen his grip is Alan Shadrake, the British author who was jailed for writing a book critical about Singapore. Although Lee's judge Loh Sze Onn, nothing but a newly appointed errand boy, was quick to blidly do his master's bidding and pass judgement upon him of imprisonment, once Shadrake appealed and when slowly but surely the injustice of that case permeated throughout the world, Lee's Singapore has become paralysed with indecision, unable to decide one way or another.

Although it has been more than a year since Sahdrake was arrested in Singapore, he continues in a limbo in the island, with passport confiscated, unable to leave, while Lee and his courts decide what to do.

In this blog I have written repeatedly about the injustice being done to him, a blog which is being read throughout Singapore and across the world. At the same time the Internet has been splashing the news of it across the world from human rights organizations to embassies and governments.

In my own case, Lee and Sons made the mistake of imprisoning me in Singapore for a blog post I wrote here in 2008 critical of Lee's judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean while she sat in judgement in the defamation case of Lee Kuan Yew against Chee Soon Juan. When I decided not to take it lying down and challenged them, the news of it spread throughout the world which caused them unimaginable embarrassment not to mention huge disaffection within Singapore.

After I was deported from Singapore, instead of keeping quiet and leaving them alone, I have continued to expose their injustices and repression by the Singapore government and their compliant judiciary, when they were so peeved by this that they were forced to commence proceedings to have be disbarred as a lawyer in Singapore.

But because they now realize that the consequences of their actions would be alienating more Singaporeans and a further loss of their reputation, they appear now to be dragging their feet.

Even though my arrest happened in Singapore in May 2008, even up till now, 3 full years after the incident, they haven't even fixed a date for the disbarment hearings!

The long delay by Lee Kuan Yew and his courts is not because the case against me is so complex that it takes more time, it is simply because they now find themselves in a quandary once again. They don't know what to do. On the one hand, they fear the backlash of criticism and embarrassment having me disbarred; on the other they would lose face if they did nothing.

Another aspect that I have been repeatedly writing about is the need in Singapore for public protests. I have pointed out that these laws which criminalize peaceful protests and peaceful assemblies and other forms of lawful activism are illegal under the Constitution.

I have also pointed out that as the situation is in Singapore now, dissent is impossible as the entire media, the police and the courts are controlled by the government.

I have also said that the Singapore government is now so embarrassed both locally and abroad by their iron fisted rule to date and that there is such widespread and growing disaffection within Singapore that if indeed anyone protested, it is unlikely that the government would in fact arrest anyone.

And even if they did, the consequence of that would be even more alienation among the population.

In fact the government has already gone soft.

I recall from memory that a number of people were arrested for some form of protest but none was ever punished. I recall a HDB (government owned apartment block) resident who deliberately flew the Singapore flag upside down; nothing happened to him. He was arrested but promptly released.

Only last year a young man drew graffiti on a sign in front of Parliament cursing Lee Kuan Yew and his son, the Prime Minister; he was arrested but nothing further happened to him (remember vandalism carries the penalty of caning).

In Geylang some walls were vandalized with faeces and slogans but the culprit was let off Scot free. In this blog I had written of a handful of people seen demonstrating outside the library in Toa Payoh, next to the fountain, with pro democracy placards. They were seen being taken away by the police but even the incident was never reported and I only came to know of it through reliable sources.

An observer who is not accustomed with the extent of repression by the Singapore government so far would be surprised by my writing about seemingly minor incidents which in a western country would not have attracted even a second look. But we are not talking about some western country but about Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore where even the slightest criticism can land someone in jail, like I did; that is, so far.

But it seems it is all changing, thanks to the Internet. Lee Kuan Yew and Sons have so long got away with anything they want, but today, thanks to the Internet, they find it is no longer possible to dismiss their citizens they way they have always done.

I make this call again to the people of Singapore. Cast aside your fear. The one who should be fearing is not you but Lee Kuan Yew and his sons and cronies. That is why they have finally been forced to call a commission on ministerial salaries. I can promise you they have not done this because they have suddenly become kinder and more compassionate, they have done it because they know they cannot disregard their people any longer.

I can promise you that if you protest in public demanding your rights, Lee and company will not arrest you, not because they cannot but because they know that they will suffer more than you, if they did.

Peacefully protest at street corners, alone or in a group, hold up placards, chant slogans for democracy, distribute leaflets, stand on pill boxes and make speeches, agitate, agitate, agitate.

Singapore is yours. Do it. And as you slowly begin your peaceful protests others will join.

The US is today on the side of those seeking freedom. The days of propping up dictators like Mubarak, Ben Ali, Assad and Lee Kuan Yew and Son are gone. Today Mubarak is going to be tried and facing jail or execution. The US has shown no interest in protecting him and neither will the US protect Lee or his son if it is shown that the people have risen.

One of the reasons why Lee and Sons will not arrest you is because of this blog Singapore Dissident. I have written many times over how unjust and corrupt Lee Kuan Yew's judiciary and his legal system is.

The Lee Kuan Yew government is now disgraced discredited and embarrassed over their legal system, which has been clearly exposed. And because of the widespread knowledge that this blog has been able to spread across Singapore, they are now truly helpless and can no longer act the brazen way they have done so far.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Monday, May 23, 2011

If any country is worth it's salt, they should at least be able to enforce their laws. Singapore is unable to enforce their laws which makes it an ass. Singapore law is an ass.

When I visited Singapore in 2008, I was charged with insulting a public servant, which is, Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean for writing a blog post in this blog, about her flagrant bias as a judge during the Lee Kuan Yew, Chee soon Juan defamation case.

I was arrested tried convicted and sentenced to 3 months in jail. The purpose of punishing me was obviously to prevent Singaporean readers from reading any criticism by me, about their judges.

The judge in my trial, Kan Ting Chiu, clearly stated my offense to be very serious and therefore the need for a harsh sentence of 3 months imprisonment.

Related to this case, also in 2008 in Singapore I was brought to court again charged with contempt of court for statements I had made in court in another earlier case.

I admitted the charges and apologized in return for their not further punishing me. I also undertook in open court not to write any further criticism about them or their judges ever again in my life. The purpose of this case, once again, was obviously to stop me from ever criticizing them so that Singaporeans will not be influenced by my writings.

But immediately after leaving Singapore, at the first opportunity, I have not only continued to criticize the judge in question which occasioned my being sent to prison for 3 months, Belinda Ang Saw Ean, I have done it many times over and with even greater force.

Furthermore I have repeatedly pointed out that the entire Singapore judiciary is corrupt, as was seconded by the International Bar Association recently in their report. I have given detailed instances of how the Singapore judiciary disgracefully distorts the law in favor of the Lee Kuan Yew government, which therefore discredits it completely.

Furthermore I have retracted the apology I had given to the judge in the contempt case and deliberately violated the court's order by repeating my accusations against the Singapore judiciary and re-posting blog posts in this blog which they had earlier ordered me to take down. And these actions have been clearly stated in this blog, which is being read by a large section of the Singapore population as well as their government.

Therefore if the intent of the Singapore government in all these actions was to prevent Singaporeans from reading what I write, it is very clear that I am deliberately thwarting their purpose.

Not too long ago, presumably angry at what I am doing, they have commenced in absentia disciplinary proceedings against me to have me disbarred in Singapore, which I am sure will happen very soon. To that end they have been doing a great deal of work and expending a large amount of time and money to make their disciplinary proceedings look legitimate.

But it should be quite clear to them that even if I am disbarred from practicing law in Singapore, which I am sure is going to happen, I have no intention of stopping my writings which will go on as they do now.

So has anyone ever asked the Singapore government whether they are serious of enforcing their laws or are they quite willing to allow anyone outside their jurisdiction to break their laws any which way he wants, and that their laws will be enforced only within Singapore and violations however serious, such as mine will go unpunished if the perpetrator is outside Singapore.

I think many would agree that the recent elections where the share of votes for the government dropped to just 60%, the lowest level in Singapore's entire history, was partly due to this blog's large readership in the country. From the statistics provided by Google, from May 2009 up till now, this blog has been visited 226,290 times by Singapore readers alone, followed by the United States, Europe and countries all over the world.

I would have thought that if indeed I was breaking Singapore's laws as they claim by repeatedly insulting their judges, any other country intent on enforcing their laws would have taken real steps to stop me. There is the avenue of extradition, through a request by them to the US government pointing out that Gopalan Nair is wanted by them for serious criminal offenses and that I should be handed over.

Particularly serious is also my deliberate breach of an undertaking given to their judge not to repeat any criticism about them or their judges and my re-posting blog posts which I had taken down under the court order.

From their failure to do anything, and their helplessness to stop these blog posts from being read in Singapore, and helplessly having to sit and watch as I continue to write about their judiciary which is nothing more than an extension of their government and the abject lack of the rule of law, only shows that Singapore law is an ass.

Singapore is simply unable to enforce their laws outside Singapore, which clearly goes to prove that their legal system and their judges have lost all respect and credibility and this blog will further increase the disaffection by Singaporeans against Lee Kuan Yew and his party, heighten emigration by Singaporeans to western countries, and increase even further the opposition's popularity in Singapore.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

The recent Singapore national elections are clearly flawed because the state has disqualified certain citizens they don't like from standing for office.

They do this by using the country's judges to criminalize certain targeted individuals without cause or bankrupt them. Being fined above a certain amount, which is very low by the way, a mere $2,000 I believe, or a prison sentence of as low as 3 months can disqualify an individual. Disqualification also applied to bankrupts.

On the face of it, even though these thresholds for disqualification appear on the low side, these laws are justified as no country in the world wants criminals and those incapable of looking after their finances sitting in Parliament.

But you see that is not the case at all in Singapore. Take the case of the well known political opponent of Lee, Chee Soon Juan. Chee has not been able to stand for elections for several years now, as well as the last one this year, because he has been repeatedly fined above the limits set for qualification, repeatedly sent to jail and bankrupted. According to Lee Kuan Yew and his laws, Chee is a criminal and a bankrupt and therefore unfit to run.

But in truth, Chee is not a criminal at all, far from it. In fact he is, what one would call him anywhere else, an exemplary model citizen.

The numerous occasions when he was fined and imprisoned, sent to jail and bankrupted were all because he exercised his rights under the Constitution. He had peacefully protested the injustices of the PAP and the Lee family and he had written about it, resulting in his inability to pay the monstrous damages awards of millions of dollars, jailed and bankrupted.

Lee Kuan Yew uses his judges to selectively target his political opponents whom he considers threats to his power, who willingly create these false criminal charges and defamation of character lawsuits instituted by Lee Kuan Yew, and have them disqualified from running for public office.

Chee Soon Juan is a citizen of Singapore and under the Constitution entitled to hold public office. By the Singapore government disqualifying him from standing for elections, the entire national elections 2011 has been tainted by gross impropriety and fraud and therefore of no real effect in law or fact.

These elections should be nullified.

Chee is not the only one who has been disqualified. Gandhi Ambalam, the Chairman in Chee's party was also unable to run this time because he too had taken part in a number of peaceful protests against the government and as a result fined and jailed by the courts for an amount or time just enough to have him disqualified. Amabalam is not a criminal, far from it. But he is Lee's political opponent who therefore has to be removed from politics.

Yap Keng Ho, is another such person disqualified also for the same reason, peaceful protests. I know that a number of others too are in the same boat, disqualified for merely standing up to Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and his government.

Every one of these men and women disqualified from standing for office would have run if they could and what is more, they could even have won.

But even if that is not so, the very fact that honest decent citizens are disqualified from running for office for nothing more than legitimate lawful acts guaranteed under the Constitution makes the entire elections just held null and void ab initio and of no effect.

And the first thing I would do, if I was one of the 6 opposition recently elected into Parliament would be to demand an explanation from Lee Kuan Yew and his son the Prime Minister to explain their actions. And if no satisfactory explanation is provided I would not stop there. I would stand outside Parliament holding up a placard and peacefully protest demanding an explanation.

I suppose if I did that, Lee Kuan Yew would have me charged in court, imposed a sufficient fine and threw me out of Parliament.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Lee Kuan Yew's PAP have been so long in power that today they couldn't care less what you think, even if they get a silly child to rule over you. I am of course referring to Ting Pei Ling, the 27 year old Chinese woman (more a childish girl than anything) who has been recently elected into Parliament to govern over the residents of Marine Parade GRC.

In no other country would a government insult the intelligence of their citizens by doing this, but after all in Singapore, they can do anything they want. So whether you like it or not, this 27 year old girl is now going to sit in Parliament and talk about great things on your behalf, even if she has nothing much in her head.

Marine Parade GRC is a group constituency which means about 5 political constituencies combine as one and stand together, which means that if a party wins, they take all 5 seats and if not they lose all.

One of the people standing in it was Goh Chock Tong, the former Prime Minister and now a Senior Minister. As the chances of the government winning with a strong candidate such as Goh is good, Lee's PAP included this woman Ting Pei Ling in the group since had she stood alone, her chances of winning would have been slim.

Ting Pei Ling as I mentioned is a Chinese Singapore woman. You can see several images of her on the Internet, appearing more like a child than a woman of 27. This is natural among the Chinese as even grown women look no older than children, also their women being less bodily endowed than Western, Indian or Malay women of that age. To guess, I believe it is because of the general dislike of milk among the Chinese whereas Indian and Westerners drink a great more of it.

Ting Pei Ling other than just being 27 years of age does not appear to have any great accomplishments. Firstly I am not sure how a 27 year old woman can possibly have the knowledge or experience to sit in Parliament and represent Singaporeans. Before the sudden announcement by the PAP, which is always the case, no one had ever heard of this child.

It has been reported that she was some sort of a manager and had studied for a degree of some sort from the National University of Singapore. She has been a member of Lee Kuan Yew's PAP and has helped out at their offices at the constituencies for some years.

But there is one important piece of intelligence that points to her selection. She is married to the secretary of the Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew's son. So if one could guess this 27 year old woman's selection who does not appear to have any particular ability one way or another, it is probably nepotism; her connection to Lee Kuan Yew's son's office.

But it is not just her, every single person selected by the PAP to rule over you does not appear to have any political ability or experience one way or the other. And none of them showed any interest in it either, except for a few days or months before the elections. They are usually all scholars from good universities either local or abroad on scholarships, and immediately thereafter fielded as politicians to speak in Parliament concerning your lives.

As for the opposition, the situation is no better. There are of course many in the island who not only have excellent credentials but are also very interested to lead Singapore, but of course there is one insurmountable problem, fear.

Lee Kuan Yew has made it very clear that he is not interested in any real multi party system, because according to him, if that was the case, he cannot rule effectively.

Examples of the hounding and merciless persecution of Chee Soon Juan and erstwhile JB Jeyaretnam is still fresh in their minds. Very soon, I will be disbarred for having the audacity to criticize one of his judges. If I ever step into Singapore, I will undoubtedly be re-arrested.

All these examples of the Chinese chicken being killed to frighten the Chinese monkeys has been very effective (from the Chinese saying, kill a chicken to frighten the monkeys)

So the result is no one dares to openly challenge the Lee Kuan Yew oligarchy, no one appears to care for politics in Singapore expect those who want to profit themselves by joining the PAP, which leaves sycophants and toadies like this small woman to speak for you in your Parliament.

Of course, it is your choice. If you don't mind being insulted this way, stay on in Singapore and do nothing. Otherwise pack up your bags and leave to some other country where you would be shown some respect or else even better cast off that fear and stand up like real men and women.

I am attaching a video link on Ting Pei Ling. I promise you, you will be shocked. There were many others showing her complete silliness but they appear to have been taken down, undoubtedly through fear of what Lee Kuan Yew may do to them or even threats.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Friday, May 20, 2011

If there is one country in the world that has successfully managed to hoodwink everyone into thinking it is a democracy when in actual fact it is either a dictatorship or at best an oligarchy, it has to be Singapore.

Singapore has all the outward trappings of a democracy. It has a Parliament, to which every 5 years there are elections to fill it's sets. There are 9 days of hustings where political hopefuls are permitted to make their speeches.

There is a Constitution where every single human right befitting any democracy is found. Criminal defendants are given open trials where they are permitted to call their witnesses and cross examine the government.

There are several newspapers and several TV channels in different languages. Singapore law has provisions that require the law of England to be it's basis. On the walls of their court houses, you see numerous high sounding adages both in English and Latin which espouse and praise the rule of law.

But you know what, every instance above has a catch to it. If you look underneath the surface, you see something entirely different, more like a Stalinist one party state. It is surely not a democracy that is practiced in that island. It is a dictatorship and at best an oligarchy.

As for it's Parliament, the PAP has a long list of hopefuls willing to offer themselves as candidates at elections, not because any of them care much for any Singaporean but because it is a highly lucrative profession; PAP politicians earn millions and their careers whether in or out of Parliament is secured for life. You can call them mercenaries or opportunists, disgraceful men and women who would do anything for a buck.

As for the opposition political camp there are hardly any takers. Opposition politics in Singapore can be harmful to your health. Lee can come after you and if that happens you are finished like Chee Soon Juan. So opposition politics is under served except for a handful of men and women with superhuman courage.

So much for the fraud Singaporean Parliament, Lee Kuan Yew style.

As for elections every 5 years, election candidates are only given 9 days to campaign. You can't do very much in 9 days, surely. Since Lee deliberately makes it so short, the whole election exercise is discredited providing no meaningful opportunity to move the citizens.

Then you have a Constitution which although gives you your freedoms, at every single right which you are given by the right hand, it is taken away by the left. You have the right to freedom of speech but you have to apply for a permit before you do it. You have the right to assemble but you have to apply for a permit before you do it. You have a right to a free press but in reality they are all state controlled. You have the rule of law but every single judge works not for the law but for Lee Kuan Yew.

At criminal trials, there is no proscription against illegal search and seizure, no right to a counsel when arrested, no right against coerced confessions, no juries but judges who are beholden to the Lee Kuan Yew family. In the end you don't have criminal trials in the island, you have show trials and all those lofty writings on the court house walls are simply just nonsense.

In court cases there is a pecking order of how much justice you are going to get. If you are the elite such as Lee Kuan Yew's sons and his family members, they are above the law. For them it is paradise.

Just below, you have the other elites, the high rankings government servants, rich foreigners and bank managers. They too would get excellent treatment from the courts. They are usually not punished at all, and even if they do get punished, no more than a slap in the wrist.

Then you have the ordinary masses, which Lee calls "digits". They can be dealt with any way the state wants. After all they have no clout and their existence on this earth is of no concern to Lee and his family.

Below them are the people who are harshly treated. In this group are Lee Kuan Yew's political opponents. In this group there are Chee Soon Juan, Tang Liang Hong and myself among others.

This is the group that Lee uses, through his courts to demonstrate the ancient Chinese practice of killing a chicken to frighten all the monkeys, the chicken being the hapless victim Chee Soon Juan or Gopalan Nair, and the monkeys being his citizens.

The trick is to harshly punish the poor chicken so that none of his monkeys would dare to give him any trouble. This is the Singaporean fear factor, a trick which he has successfully employed over the years against every single one of his political opponents, so much so that the law has been completely discredited and the people have been turned into frightened rabbits.

As for it's newspapers, as there are so many, the unwary observer would have thought that there was a free press with various newspapers in healthy competition for readership. You only have to look deeper when you will find that every single newspaper is owned by Singapore Press Holdings and it in turn is owned and controlled by the government. Singapore's Pravda or Izvestia.

All this skillful maneuvering and adjusting to look like a democracy but in fact carry on as a Stalinist one party state has taken it's toll.

There are no real politicians to speak of. On the one side you have the Lee Kuan Yew PAP opportunists. On the other hand, except for a handful of brave souls like Chee Soon Juan, the rest are so afraid that they only dare to show their faces once every 5 years for the elections and thereafter say and do nothing for fear of attracting Lee's wrath.

There are no real political theories espoused by anyone. Are they conservative,. capitalist or socialist and if so to what extent. What are the underlying principles of the government? Is to educate their people to the fullest possible extent so they can participate as members of a democracy or is it to keep them ignorant of their rights so Lee can ride roughshod over them as he does now?

For any country to be strong and stable with the ability to achieve greatness, it has to have integrity and it has to educate their citizenry which can play their part in the advancement of their society and their country.

But what Lee has managed to do to to instill so much fear in people that you have only 2 kinds in Singapore, those who try hard to join them and do what they want because it is profitable and the rest of the population who have just switched off because it is too dangerous to get involved.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

We had just gone through the fanfare, the hustle and bustle of speeches upon speeches, the emotions and excitement of 9 whole days of election campaigning, which happens once every 5 years, in the island city state of Singapore until May 7, 2011 when it all suddenly came to an end; 81 of Lee Kuan Yew's PAP members won with 6 of the opposition. And with that, democracy itself came to a halt and went into hibernation to become alive again 5 years later in 2016!

You can compare this single instance of democratic activity to the rains that come to the Kalahari Desert in a flash between long intervals of many years. Suddenly the rains fall in a torrent for a few days, after which there is drought again for many years.

Names that we never heard before, some PhDs, even a medical doctor, managers and you name it, people you never heard before, they all came out of the blue and volunteered to become your leaders for democracy. Except for 6, they all lost and since that time, we have never heard of any of them again.

One of them was in fact permanently residing in Australia with a Singapore passport, returned and made very stirring speeches. Just like the others who have gone, we have never heard of him since that day; perhaps he has gone back to his home in Australia.

And the same with every other opposition politician hopefuls, they all appear to have gone; disappeared. Of course we have Chee Soon Juan and his dedicated handful of hardworking dedicated men and women who soldier along despite all odds, but beside these brave handful, no one appears to be around.

I am sorry to say, despite these brave and daring speeches during these elections coming from them, there seems to be a dire lack of will determination or dedication among the opposition camps, seeming only interested in propping up every 5 years, just before the elections to try their luck and disappearing immediately thereafter if they lost.

And how does a citizen hang his hopes and his destiny on leaders such as this who almost, I am sad to say, appear opportunists, trying to get into Parliament and otherwise they don't show any interest.

To be fair to them whom you see one minute and don't if you blink, the fault is not entirely theirs. The political climate of fear created by Lee Kuan Yew's PAP is to blame for this appalling disinterest.

Lets, face it, it takes almost superhuman will, not found in ordinary souls, but in a few such as Chee Soon Juan to withstand the onslaught of the PAPs non stop repression and punishment if one is seen to engage in political and social work on a regular basis.

First there is the fear that Lee might cause you to lose your job, you might lose your promotions, your children might similarly suffer and on the whole you may have to live an unhappy life, all because of your interest in opposition politics. Some would argue tht it is too much to ask of anyone to martyr themselves for a cause such as this, where repression and suffering is guaranteed but victory is uncertain.

Another impediment to espousing democratic values openly is the lack of an independent press, since they are all state controlled. Moreover you are not allowed to speak without permits, assemble without permits, and even if you arranged an assembly, it would not be reported in the state controlled press.

In these circumstance it is not surprising if the Australian resident has gone home to Australia and the doctor has gone back to practicing medicine and forgot entirely that he had made all those great speeches about all these great things he was going to do for the people of Singapore.

Which is why I come back to the same old mantra once again, which is, without freedom you will not have democracy and in order to have democracy, you have to have freedom. Which is another way of saying that unless you have the freedom of speech and the rule of law, you are not going to have any democracy either, since no one would be motivated to do anything under these impossible odds where their heads are under the chopping blocks.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

3 days ago, Strauss Kahn, the IMF chief, one of top European leaders was, as you know, arrested on the complaint of a mere chamber maid at Sofitel Hotel New York, a human being on the lowest rung of the hierarchy of jobs anyone can imagine, a chamber maid.

Such a happening would have naturally been unthinkable in any third world country. Simply put a poor humble chambermaid in a hotel does not go around accusing the head of the IMF of anything, let alone rape!

And if indeed this had happened anywhere else, the chambermaid would have been promptly rushed off to the nearest mental hospital to have her head examined, thereafter taken to court herself and charged with making a false report and fired on the spot.

And that is why one cannot avoid looking at America and admiring it's legal system. Truly this is the rule of law.

But you might have guessed from the title of this post that I am going to compare the American legal system to that of Singapore.

I can promise you this, that if Strauss Kahn had wanted to have some fun with hotel chamber maids, he should have gone to Singapore, where he could have done he wanted with an infinite number of hotel chamber maids, and walk off none the worse for it.

Under Singapore's legal system, which by the way is more accurately described as Lee's legal system, men like Strauss Kahn could have have as much fun as they want with chamber maids, taxi drivers, bus boys and doormen, got drunk, beat up taxi drivers, molested any number of women he wanted and still got away. The reason, in Singapore's legal system, it is not what you do that matters, but who you are.

In Singapore the law is taken in the context of Singapore's economic and political interests. Had Strauss Kahn done what he did in Singapore, the reasoning would have gone like this.

Strauss Kahn is important to Singapore's interests, being the head of the IMF. Sending him to jail would affect Singapore's political and economic interests. On the other hand the simple chamber maid who is a nobody can do nothing if she was ignored. Result, the Hell with the stupid chamber maid. We will protect Strauss Kahn.

I am not making this up as you would know. 2 years ago, an editor of the Chinese daily newspaper was driving while on the phone, ran a red light and killed a motorcycle pillion and seriously injured the rider resulting in paralysis. Verdict, a small fine and a few years disqualification. Had that been done by any other ordinary person, he would have gone to jail for 10 years.

Last year the sister of Singapore actor Lim Kay Tong, a doctor at the KK Hospital was found dead drunk in her car in the middle lane of Pan Island Expressway in the night, with all her lights switched off, sleeping! When police came to arrest her, she was reeking of alcohol. She too got off lightly as expected, with a fine and a light disqualification. Reason, she is after all a senior doctor in the Hospital.

Foreign Caucasian company managers, CEOs and bankers routinely grope, fight and do all kinds of nasty things at Boat Quay after drinking and merrymaking. None of them are arrested. Some have beat up taxi drivers, driven drunk and all sorts of other frolics. None of them have been ever been punished with more than a slap on the wrist if at all.

It is really one law for ordinary Singapore citizens, whom Lee Kuan Yew has accurately called his digits and another for the celebrities.

And are you surprised that I keep writing in this blog about Singapore's corrupt judges and their similarly discredited legal system?

And that is why I can say with pride that I live in the USA, a country with the rule of law and that is why you Singaporeans live in a country where the law is entirely up to what Lee Kuan Yew makes up as he goes along.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Just received another big box, presumably containing documents from the Singapore Law Society about the case to disbar bar from the rolls of Singapore lawyers all because I had criticized their judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean in this blog and yelled at Singapore policemen, which charge they have made up.

I don't think there is ever another country in the world where so much time and effort, not forgetting the wastage of paper and international air freight charges is being spent on such stupidity.

Lee Kuan Yew's thinking all these years is the idea that you can intimidate someone by all this legalese and marathon work and which is in effect nothing but nonsense, a trick he has employed successfully over time against his hapless citizens within the island.

Someone has to tell him that this sort of thing does not work anymore, especially against someone who lives in the United States. He should be told there is an even playing field here and people here are not the robots like they are over there.

It looks as if I have so much paper coming from them that I may have to rent a storage space just for their rubbish and charge them for it.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

As I had accurately predicted, since the Singapore elections have just been over, Singapore Law Society have started their nonsense again of trying to have me disbarred.

You can see why they waited for the elections to be over before commencing further action, I hope. These proceedings against me are so nonsensical and clearly a misuse of the law to silence dissent, that a few more thousand votes would have gone to the opposition with a few more seats lost.

So to avoid further shame, they wait till the elections are over. As it is, they have suffered their greatest loss in votes and support since the last 52 years, with a GRC and an SMC lost.

Their lawyer has now sent me numerous files, about 15 or so, through the Email which has reached me all garbled and unreadable. In total they amount to over 10,000 pages!

You know, I don't even want to waste my time reading that nonsense. Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Law Society thinks, very stupidly, that merely sending out about 10,00 pages or so (in fact that is how long their case is) at me, somehow their case being the idiocy that it is, will suddenly make some sense.

What I am going to do of course is to state among the other defenses that I have against this tomfoolery is to say that I have not been properly served with the papers, since they have all reached me garbled.

For the reader who has been following these pages, let me remind you of what this is all about.

1. In 2008, more than 3 years ago, when I was in Singapore, I wrote a blog in Singapore Dissident (May 29, 2008) after attending Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean's disgraceful performance as a judge in a court where she disgracefully forgot her job, and punished Lee Kuan Yew's political opponent Chee Soon Juan purely to silence him and destroy his political career, by ordering him to pay several hundreds of thousands of dollars to Lee.

There could not have been a greater travesty of justice than that.

The word "to prostitute" means someone who abuses his position for a dishonest purpose. I said in the blog "Belinda Ang Saw Ean prostituted herself in her position as a judge by being nothing more than an employee of Lee Kuan Yew and his son". I will say that again, thank you very much. In fact I had said it many times. And those words accurately descibe her disgraceful conduct from May 26 to May 28 2008 in the High Court in Singapore, where I was present as an observer.

2. On July 4 2008, in Singapore I was accosted by some strangers, wearing ordinary clothes, claiming they were policemen and demanded to know what I was doing. I refused. I was physically assaulted for that and suffered injuries. I was arrested. It turns out they are policemen. They charged me for cursing at them. I have denied the charges. I did not yell or curse at them. In any case, you don't disbar a lawyer for cursing at policemen.

3. While in court for charge 2 above, I told the court among other things that it was nothing but a kangaroo court and these charges were politically motivated. I stand by what I said. It was in fact a kangaroo court.

4. When they threw me in prison for 3 months for the Belinda Ang Blogging case, I was taken to court again and charged with contempt of court for my statements in para 3. The judge offered to drop the charges if I was apologized and promised to take down 2 blog posts about the judge in para 3, and not to criticize Singapore judges or their government again. In order not to prolong my stay in jail, I apologized and took down the blog posts and gave the undertaking they wanted. However I had no intention of ever keeping my promise to these bullies.

5. After I returned to the US, I wrote in this blog that I was withdrawing my undertaking given to the Singapore judge in para 4 and re posted the the blogs which I had taken down. I have continued my attacks against Singapore's corrupt judiciary and their government.

6. In addition to the Belinda Ang charge and the yelling at police charge, they are also charging me for reneging on my undertaking to the Singapore judge (para 4) and re posting the blogs.

7. Finally there is one more charge similar to the Belinda Ang charge in respect of another Singapore judge Judith Prakash in the Kangaroo Court Tshirt case. She sent 3 activists to jail just because they were found in the vicinity of the courts wearing Tshirts with pictures of kangaroos.

And for the above Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore courts are going to disbar me. And that I tell you is going to be hilarious.

In a way, I am glad Singapore is proceeding with these thoroughly political charges against me now after 3 years since the incident as it will undoubtedly have the effect of alienating even more Singaporeans against this Lee Kuan Yew dictatorship and pushing them to the opposition camp. In that way, I will be doing the Singapore opposition another favor through this case.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

The recently held elections came as a pleasant surprise, not only to me but I am sure to many others.

Lee Kuan Yew's PAP's electoral majority has been reduced to the lowest number for decades, a mere 60% with the opposition's 40%.

Not just that, Aljunied GRC with Lee's Foreign Minister and other PAP big wigs dislodged as well as the Hougang Constituency retained by the opposition, which means 6 Opposition people in Parliament.

What this means, in the Singaporean sense, where it was unthinkable even for one opposition candidate to be elected, is simply a miracle but I am glad to say, it will be not just one miracle this time, but it going to be the norm in the future.

The tide has finally turned. The Singaporean is no longer the timid soul that Lee and his friends in high places can merely dismiss.

Now whether they like it or not Lee Kuan Yew and his bully boys have to tread carefully and not just dismiss them as mere "digits" as he has done for the last 52 years.

I personally take credit for this victory by my actions in the past, this blog Singapore Dissident which I guarantee will continue and my future actions which will continue to expose their injustices, rousing Singaporeans even further.

I want to thank Singaporeans who have made this possible and I promise the people of Singapore that I will continue with this blog as well as in any other way to resist and expose Lee Kuan Yew's tyrannical dictatorship which I am sure at the rate it is declining will fall in no time, when a new beginning will emerge with a truly independent and free Singapore.

I am sure Singapore Dissident has hurt Lee's regime and is at least in some way responsible for this opposition victory. It is impossible to tell to what extent Singapore Dissident has contributed to this but I am sure it has.

Singapore Dissident is available to the Singaporean reader through the Internet. Unlike many other blogs which are equally critical, many appear anonymous hiding the author's identity.

This fear to identify oneself, reduces the effect of these blogs although it must be said that they do contribute to the political dialogue.

Singapore Dissident on the other hand, because it is written openly with the name address and other particulars of the author stated for all to see, is far more effective against this regime for the following reasons.

Firstly, because this dictatorship relies on the fear factor in Singaporeans, when Gopalan Nair openly writes his criticism without fear, the regime becomes helpless against this new phenomenon.

Of course Gopalan Nair can do this because he is beyond the borders of Singapore making it difficult for Lee to employ his dirty tactics to destroy him, but still, as Singaporeans get to read what he writes, thanks to the Internet, the damage to the Lee Kuan Yew company is devastating.

Second, the contents of Singapore Dissident is a permanent record of it's writings which makes what has been said in it's pages, available for Singaporeans and people all over the world in perpetuity. It's pages are copied and distributed and recorded not only in Singapore but all over the world.

Third, the accusations that Gopalan Nair makes in them, such as a corrupt dishonest Singapore judiciary being ever beholden to the Lee Kuan Yew family rather than the law; the shameless recent spectacle of Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean shamelessly abusing and distorting the law in cohorts with Lee Kuan Yew's lawyer Davinder Singh to punish Chee Soon Juan are facts which anybody who is aware of Singapore's pathetic dictatorship will be fully aware.

Gopalan Nair is openly stating facts which are true which are there for all to see, which is what hurts this oligarchy the most as it is difficult to ignore what he says.

I am overjoyed with the outcome at these elections. And I hope this momentum towards freedom and democracy continues without a hitch.

I believe it is the duty of everyone who can in some way contribute to democratic change in Singapore to do his part. Change may be slow or fast, it does not matter, but what matters is for one to persevere against tyranny, against injustice and against corruption as is Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.

I am not sure who it is who said these words but I believe in them, "Speaking against injustice is itself a noble act".

I understand from speaking to many in Singapore that the people have changed, they are no longer the timid souls that they were in the past.

Many are willing to openly declare their support for the opposition because the Lee regime have stopped persecuting and victimising opposition supporters as they did in the past, by dismissing them from their jobs and destroying their futures.

I believe they have stopped their dirty tactics because far too many Singaporeans are today openly declaring their opposition to them, making it impossible to punish everyone. You could say, they have simply ran out of ideas.

And with the emboldened Singaporean in the new Singapore, I would urge you to now engage in peaceful civil disobedience to accelerate the change to democracy. Remember these actions are completely lawful under the Constitution.

These are some of my ideas that may be useful. 1) Wear Tshirts with the words "I am an Opposition Supporter" or "Down with the the Singapore Dictatorship", or "I voted for the opposition" or something along those lines. 2) Sell these T shirts openly in public places 3) Accept donations to print these Tshirts and other political work. It may be illegal under Lee's law to accept donations but just go ahead and break that unjust law 3) Hold public protests without permits 4) Make speeches in public without permits 4) Do anything you have to do which you know is morally right even if they are illegal under Lee's unjust laws.

I am sure if a few of you did this, many others will follow and the movement will take off. Remember there are many smart people out there in Singapore who are aware of these injustices and who would be prepared to act.

Remember, as in all democratic movements for change, it only takes a handful of people for it to turn into a flood. In Yemen, the democracy activists started of with a lone woman holding up a placard in Sa'ana, which has become what it is today, hundreds of thousands. And the only reason why the lone woman protester became hundreds of thousands was because justice was on her side.

Justice is on the side of the Singapore opposition, not the Lee Kuan Yew family. Please don't forget that.

And lastly don't be taken in by these statements from the government that Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chock Tong have resigned from the Cabinet. I can tell you this. As long as Lee Kuan Yew is alive, he will still continue to rule over you. Nothing is going to change.

It is you who has to seize power. Lee Kuan Yew is not going to give it to you, as long as he is breathing.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Singaporeans in this elections are in the unenviable position of being between a hard rock and a hard place, thanks to Lee's 52 years of successfully repressing their people.

Which leaves the people in the position they are today, between a heartless and uncaring dictatorship of the Lee Kaun Yew family on the one hand and a totally inept opposition except for a handful of good men such as Chee Soon Juan who sadly cannot run at all.

It is not true that Singapore does not have capable people to lead, yes they do. But the problem is that anyone who is discerning and able is overcome with fear of the consequences of taking a stand about anything, leaving them entirely unseen and unavailable; thanks to Lee Kuan Yew. Here we are of course talking about university professors, teachers, professionals and others, all refusing to come forward due to all pervasive fear that blankets that small island run by the Lee family.

As for the government political hopefuls, every one of them is an opportunist looking forward to the millions that they stand to gain, which is why even the government is finding their candidates much to be desired, which proves that many able people in Singapore also have a conscience and are refusing to step forward despite the unimaginably huge rewards.

The end result of this is the general decline in the quality of political candidates across the board, both government and opposition. And as long as the government continues their repressive measures against the people and use their corrupt judges as their principle tool to silence any contrarian opinions, the next election will further see the quality of politicians in the island even further compromised.

A look at the opposition candidates in this election does not instill confidence. The NSP and the other parties appear as if they are contesting elections for the sake of contesting; not with any confidence of ever winning, men and women with no qualites of leadership whatsoever, with whom you would not want to bother even with a passing conversation, let alone making them your leaders!

But the silliness of it all is the view that people could just come out of the blue, stand for elections, point out a litany of perceived wrongs committed by the PAP and then demand you vote for them. And the equally preposterous position of the government that you should vote for them even though it is they who have denied any chance whatsoever throughout the last preceding 5 years of the opposition being able to show themselves, through a state controlled press which shuts them out.

Which leaves the Singaporean voter with the Hobson's choice of bad leadership either by the government or the opposition.

I am not sure whether am I the only person in the world who can see this or is the mind of the Singaporean so successfully corrupted by the Lee Kuan Yew family that he can no longer see that which anyone else outside can see.

Which leaves me to congratulate myself once again of having left Singapore for the sake of my head and the contents therein safe and proportionate. At least it can still think logically which may not have been the case had I still been a resident of Lee Kuan Yew's Ang Mo Kio.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

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About Me

Determined to find the Truth.
Born Singapore, educated Winstedt School 2 (next to Monks Hill in Newton, Singapore) Raffles Institution, National Service, some travel in Europe, then law studies England, return to Singapore, practiced for 10 years, active Workers Party member, stood elections 1988 and 1991 in Singapore, was harassed and persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew for my political beliefs, left for USA, obtained asylum and admitted California State Bar, practice law ever since in Fremont California near San Francisco. Relinquished Singapore citizenship 2005 because I was not prepared to permit Lee Kuan Yew to unjustly retain my CPF funds if I remained Singapore Citizen. On principle, the only correct thing for me to do was to give it up, for my CPF funds. I am an American Citizen as of 2004.